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TheTyee.ca
Monday (May 20-26)
Wrongs righted at the Island's alt-weekly: Editor Alisa Gordaneer welcomes back previously deposed news editor Russ Francis and his popular muckraking Citywatcher column. Francis celebrates in his opening salvo: "Now, where was I? Oh, right. The mayor's in a blatant conflict of interest by lobbying for his own city projects, the arena is going sideways in a handbasket, and stupid painted fish continue to plop up throughout the city." Elsewhere, the pub puffs up the sinful signs of summer. Bill Stuart waxes wise on the alchemy of beer and summer--"the best part about beer is that it makes all of the other sins better"--while Gordaneer insists you surrender copies of The Nation and The Walrus for Cosmo and some good tabs. An interesting story on activists touring Canada to combat Wal-Martization (wal-town.com) takes a look at the toll in Courtenay: "Courtenay's downtown is struggling--a mere shadow of the bustling community it once was. City hall is attempting to reverse the erosion of the city core, but Winton maintains their strategy is late coming, consisting as it does of reparative attempts to bring the town's character back--with benches and flowers, mostly." Mondaymag.com
Geist (Spring)
The ever-dapper cultural quarterly takes a siesta this spring with a series of mostly forgettable dispatches and essays. There are, as always, thickets of redeeming reading in here. Catch Kevin Chong's love affair with Vaporub. Annabel Lyon's crafty essay tangles with Aristotle, ethics, legal theory and--the greatness of literature? Yep. Dig the emerging skateboarding scene in Taiwan, where skaters doggedly endure the cronyism of civic commissars. (Piquant Taiwanese flick to follow? Somebody option this guy!) Otherwise, this issue is a snoozefest. Geist.com
Vancouver Review (Spring)
Who needs longevity if you'll come back in the next life better? Vancouver Review has been exhumed to local fanfare as a kind of literary undead, and the early results are promising. The stories are solidly counterintuitive. Paul Delany's thoughtful cover essay plumbs The Vancouver Question. Rather than a dearth of commerce, "fun" or civic character, however, Delany wonders much more provocatively if this is where North American-style ambition goes to die. The piece is less of a thumbsucker than it sounds. His answer is neither despairingly morose nor so much blithe cheerleading: "More than any city I know, Vancouver encourages people to direct their fantasies and desires into a transformed future." A story about the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts' acoustical properties transcends conventional wisdom (i.e., "The Chan sucks!" or "The Chan rawks!"). Another unconventional piece takes a nuanced look at Brian Fawcett's antiglobalization politics. Mark Mushet's photography deserves special praise for buoying the long seas of wide-margin text--and taking full advantage of the mag's large-size format. The book review round-up is weaker, punctuated with a tone of kid-glove earnestness: "At the end of Hey Nostradamus!, you're amazed at where his prose has led you." Magazine swan songs are dime a dozen--resurrections, now those are something to gawk at. Here's hoping their second act is a lengthy one.
Jeff MacIntyre is regularly heckled, from dangerously near and glamorously afar, at jeffmacintyre.com
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